Two years ago, Louise Peloquin began sharing excerpts from L’Etoile, a French-language newspaper published in Lowell from 1881 to 1957. At my urging, she has agreed to compile some of her previous posts with added contextual information into a book manuscript to be called, L’Etoile: A Star on Prince Street. Starting this week, Louise will present draft chapters from the book in serial form here on the blog. Today, we have Chapter 1.

Richard Howe

L’Etoile – A Star on Prince Street

Chapter 1 – The Star’s Course

By Louise Peloquin

Twenty-two French-language newspapers were published in Lowell between 1881 and 1957 and, from 1975 to 1995, Le Journal de Lowell revived the French publication tradition. Among the three hundred-odd French newspapers published in New England since the second half of the 19^th century, the most widely circulated was Lowell’s L’Etoile (The Star).

Maxime Lépine managed L’Etoile, founded in March 1886 by Le Cercle Canadien of Lowell. In 1909, the New England Investment Company acquired L’Etoile and went bankrupt after a series of ambitious moves such as enlarging the newspaper format from six to seven columns, purchasing new printing presses and upgrading headquarters.

In 1910, the newspaper was auctioned off and purchased by Louis-A. Biron and colleague Paul Chaput, founder of the Courrier de Salem. They successfully transitioned L’Etoile from a weekly to a daily and established its reputation all over New England. In 1910, L’Etoile had approximately 60,000 subscribers.

Biron later became L’Etoile’s sole proprietor and manager. The paper adopted a modern, dynamic approach highlighting Lowell’s Franco-American culture and identity while including national as well as international news. Capturing Franco-American life was always L’Etoile’s main objective and asset.

Biron and his team boosted L’Etoile’s notoriety all across New England. The paper became a member of the L’Alliance des Journaux Franco-Américains (The Alliance of Franco-American newspapers) and of the New England Foreign Language Newspaper Association. Renown journalists Arthur Smith and Charles Daoust brought their French-language expertise. Firebrand newspaperman Wilfred Beaulieu interned at L’Etoile before founding Worcester’s Travailleur (Worker) in 1930. Edmond Turcotte served as editor-in-chief for eight years.

Writers such as Yvonne Lemaître, Louis-Alphonse Nolin and Joseph Laferrière offered literary contributions to the paper. Franco-American poet laureate Rosaire Dion-Lévesque published in L’Etoile. Antoine Clément, L’Etoile’s last editor-in-chief, distinguished himself by his passionate pleas in favour of maintaining Franco-American identity in Lowell and beyond.

The 24-26 Prince Street workshop printed many regional papers. Among them were the Courrier de Salem, the Courrier de Lawrence, the Journal de Lawrence, the Bulletin Français of Lynn, the Lynnois of Lynn and the Journal de Fitchburg.

In 1937, L’Etoile celebrated its golden jubilee. On this occasion, the Société Historique Franco-Américaine solemnly granted the newspaper and its editor-owner the Grand Prix medal.

In the 1940’s, constraints brought about by World War II hit L’Etoile considerably. Publication became triweekly. The newspaper celebrated its 60^th anniversary in 1946.

On August 17, 1957, L’Etoile, become biweekly, published its last issue.

During the June 1977 Franco-American Week, the city of Lowell paid homage to Louis-A. Biron by naming a French-language corner of the Pollard Memorial Library “Salle Louis-A. Biron” (Louis-A. Biron Room). The following plaque was put up on June 24, 1986:

1977

Salle Louis-A. Biron

Lowell City Library

Dedicated June 19th, 1977

To commemorate the contribution of the publisher of

L’Etoile  1886 – 1957

 Lowell’s French language daily newspaper

 Louis-Alphonse Biron

Né à Lotbinière Québec, en 1861. Débute à L’Avenir National de Manchester, N.H.

Fonde L’Impartial de Nashua, N.H. en 1898

Acquéreur de L’Etoile de Lowell en 1910

Décédé à Lowell en 1947